H.P. Lau Company

A three-story brick building with many windows and terra cotta trim stands on a corner in this 6-1/2" x 4-1/2" black and white photograph. A concrete sidewalk runs in front of the building, and there are cars parked on the streets. A cylindrical tower with "Milady" painted on it stands in the background. Telephone lines are visible in the foreground of the photograph. "H.P. Lau Co" is written on the photograph.

H. P. Lau began his grocery business with one box of lemons as his stock in the late 1860s. The business suffered a series of setbacks in the 1890s. Their warehouse space in the Clarke Building at 8th and P Streets was destroyed by fire in 1895. Mr. Lau died on a trip to his native Germany in 1897. The company lost another warehouse to fire in 1898, when Beatrice Creamery Co. in the Fitzgerald Block at 7th and P Streets caught fire and destroyed the whole building, which they shared with H. P. Lau. A competing grocery wholesaler, Hargreave Brothers at 8th and O Streets, provided the Lau Company with space so it could continue in business. H. P.'s widow Fredericka led the firm after his death and the business grew to build this three-story, 48,000 square foot building at the southwest corner of 8th and Q Streets in 1904. The building was designed by Cox and Schoentgen of Council Bluffs, Iowa. When Hargreave Brothers suffered a fire at their building in 1905, H. P. Lau Company returned the favor, housing them in this new warehouse until the Hargreaves could repair and enlarge their warehouse (Schwarz Paper in 2013). H. P. Lau Co.'s new building allowed them to open a fruit department, announced with advertisements boasting of "experienced banana men." H. P. Lau Co. was taken over in 1936 by Nash-Finch. The Lau Building stands as one of the handsomest warehouse